Three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina made land fall found me once again watching as another “killer storm made its way into the gulf. Once again it is threatening my home, and once again a lot of anxious eyes are awaiting the out-come.

At least I am far from the action this time. Taking advantage of the considerably greater lead time afforded as compared to Katrina, we have already evacuated to Pamela’s Sister’s house , in Georgia where we will wait, watch, and HOPE!!!!!!!_________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

Best of luck to you, Pesto Man, as well as all the others in the Gulf region. The exodus has already started to reach Texas. I hope they feel welcome here and can return to damage-spared homes after landfall.

It must be awful to have the worry of such upheaval so soon after Katrina!

Pesto Man...we can only imagine...from this side of the world..what it must be like...

hugs to all in the area...

this, from the letters page of today's Sydney Morning Herald (may it bring a smile or more):

Gustav a G-force

I have always been blamed for everything, and now a hurricane.
Gustav Kohn
Bellevue Hill_________________"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:49 pm Post subject:

I can't even imagine what you must be going through. I am glad to know that you and Pesto-wife are safe in Georgia. Please let us know how you faired as soon as you can. Take care._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

I have my fingers crossed for you PestoMan, my sister & niece in Baton Rouge and my good friends who have evacuated New Iberia to Austin. Now we have to hope that my Aunt Marilyn in Newton TX has better luck than she did during Rita.

Well it looks like all will be ok!!! whew!!!! It was a little strange seeing it unfold from a distance. During Katrina, we were in Hattisburg Miss. without any power either, so we were just as blind to the unfolding events as those back at "ground zero" were. Here, we were watching CNN and logged into Nola.com getting pretty much a "blow by blow" account. THings got a little "tense" when the seawall at the industrial canal (litterally a block away from my garden)started sloshing over. After all the misery caused during Katrina caused by poorly designed flood walls (supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers) I took little confort from the Corps assurances that this flood wal would hold. But, hold it did and all is apparently well.

We are awaiting the "all clear" to return(we will in all probility leave early am tommorow) and discover wnat if any little surprises await us. I will keep you posted._________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

Well, PestoMan! What a relief for all! I know there is still a lot of water in NO, but from what I hear, everything is holding!

My sister in Baton Rouge lost power and has a lot of oak limbs in her yard, but no damage to the house so far. She hasn't been out to check on the roof yet. Other good news for my family - the storm appears to be headed east and will not be heading into East Texas. My cousin Cynthia lost the roof (and consequently most everything inside) of her house during Rita three years ago. She has been a wreck this past week dreading Gustav- her husband calls it PHSD, Post Hurricane Stress Disorder. Having lost a home in a tornado as a youngster, I can testify to the trauma that accompanies these major disasters.

Hope your garden is holding up and that you get back home safely and quickly!_________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

Nice to see the worst didn't happen---but my god!!! Watching the weather this morning there are 3 more brewing in the Atlantic, all named and all moving west! Survived Gilbert in '88 in Grand Cayman---don't wish one of those creatures on anyone!!_________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

So glad your garden seems safe and untainted. You'll be back at the Pesto Cave before long and powering up the Pestomobile. So very glad you're safe and I couldn't help but wince when you mentioned the sea sloshing over the wall. My little pot of basil doesn't like too much water so a garden full would be very unhappy - and seawater on top of that.

Donna,

Your sister might at least be able to use the oak limbs to make things to commemorate surviving Gustav. I hope your cousin gets through. Nature can get very, very rough at times.

Hope that all is well and stays that way._________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

Also, the local newspapers usually have very helpful and up-to-the-minute info on their websites. I've been checking the Times-Picayune site, as well as the Daily Iberian for New Iberia where two of my best friends have been living for the past few months.

I am so grateful that this storm seems to have caused way less damage than anticipated - and it seems the new levees and flood protection systems did the trick. There is a lot more work to do, I am sure, including restoring the wetlands. But for now - "Laissez les bons temps roulez"!_________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

We recieved the "all clear" tuesday evening and left Wednesday morning and joined the "Great Return" of Louisiana vehicles, all headed westward all a little vervous as to what would be awaiting them.....It wasn't until we were approaching the Louisiana border that we started hearing via the radio, ominious rumblings of wide-spread power outages and delays of perhaps a week of full restoration. WIsh the newspaper websdite mentioned that before we left!!) Well we arrived to a darkened neighborhood and have spent the last 2 days/nights in the dark and sweat.

I frankly slept like a baby.....(I woke up every 2 hours cranky and sopping wet ) Well, today, at 9:04 am the power returned, so we are at least back to a semblance of normalcy.... Our damages have been minimal, basically consisting of a trellis arbor covering a bench in my Rose-garden, a survivor of katrina, now reduced to kindling, and the contents of my freezer recuced into vile smelling muck.... with this I will end the tale of my adventures with "Mr Gustav" thanking everyone of you for your good wishes, and encourangement....Hugs to you all_________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

Pestoman - glad to hear all was (Mostly) well. Sorry about the freezer - what a drag to lose everything. Plus the cleanup must be YUCKY!

Last I heard my sister in Baton Rouge got power back on Wednesday. No word yet from the New Iberia crew. They went to Austin. I know the west side of town is flooded - which is where they live, a few blocks form the bayou.

I hope the other storms out there power down!_________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais